I tried to glare at the beautiful girl, but a smile broke across my face instead. “Eh, it’s nothing big actually. It’s been a while since our last meeting, so I wanted to ask you how you’ve been doing these past few days.”

“Hah?!”

Lin Yixin gaped at me for a moment. Then, she started punching me on the shoulder. “You bastard! I can’t believe you made me teleport all the way back for this! Heavens, I had the Forest Wolves all to myself, and now I have to travel all the way back there! You’d better pay me for the 1-hour journey you cost me…”

Chuckling, I held her Moonlight Sword at bay with my left hand and took out a leaf from my bag with my right. “What do you think this is, Yiyi?”

“Hmm?!”

Lin Yixin blinked once before grabbing the leaf for a closer look. Her eyes quickly widened in shock as she turned to stare at me. “How… how on earth did you get a Rank 8 herb? There shouldn’t be anyone with Rank 8 Herbalism. Even mine is only at Rank 7...”

I smiled. “Gimme a price, Yiyi. How many leaves are you willing to buy off my hands? Don’t forget, you can use this to make Rank 8 Health Potion; the kind of good stuff that heals 2500 HP in one go!”

Lin Yixin stared at me for a moment before smiling back. “Hmph hmph, you don’t actually have that many Rank 8 herbs in your stock, do you? You may be able to fool an idiot like this, but I’m immune to such half-assed tactics!”

I chuckled again and said, “Why don’t you come closer, Yiyi?”

“What for?” Lin Yixin’s gaze turned wary. “I swear, if this is you trying to take advantage of me I’ll hang you on top of the Floating Ice City’s War God Statue and set you ablaze…”

“Fuck, of course not. What the hell are you thinking?”

I grabbed her shoulder and pulled her to my side. Then, I shared the contents of my bag. A hundred stacks, exactly 10000 Leaves of Eternity were just sitting inside, waiting to become at least 1000 Rank 8 Health Potions. It would be like a bomb was set off in the middle of the square if a thousand Rank 8 Health Potions were to appear in the market of Floating Ice City right now. We could even make a brand out of it just like Harbin Pharmaceutical Group Co. Ltd!

“Ah!!!!”

Lin Yixin exclaimed in shock and disbelief when she saw the herbs. She looked at me and asked, “Lu Chen, I don’t want to say this but… you haven’t exploited a bug to get these herbs, have you? Aren’t you worried that Eternal Moon Corporation will hunt you down for this? I heard that the Eternal Moon Vice President of the China branch, the retired Windy Snow, used to be an incredible player. You may not be a match for her…”

I gritted my teeth. “Fuck, do I look like someone who’d exploit a bug like that? Don’t you forget that I’m a CGL Hall of Famer!”

Lin Yixin couldn’t help but curl her lips when she saw me swinging the Purgatory Sword around flamboyantly. “So what? Transient Smoke and Clouds, God’s Dance, Blue Sky Scar, and Tempest Shadow are also CGL Hall of Famers, but they are no match for me, are they? Hehe, I’m going to take out all of the CGL Hall of Famers eventually, and you’ll be the last one I kill, you Little Cheat!”

Dumbfounded, I said, “Er… let’s get back to talking business, shall we? Anyway, I have a 100 stacks of Leaf of Eternity. How much are you going to offer to buy them?”

Lin Yixin turned back toward the Rank 8 herbs and muttered reluctantly, “I want it all, obviously, but where am I going to get the gold to buy it in such a short amount of time? I don’t have enough money even if I were to convert all the money I currently have to buy them. My car is a used car, so it won’t be enough to cover the purchase either. What should I do…”

I nearly vomited blood when I heard her complaints. “Fuck, just give me a price now and I’ll sell them to you if it’s acceptable. I don’t want to be the guy to force you into taking drastic measures!”

Lin Yixin burst into a giggle before tilting her head at me. “Drastic measures?”

“You know what I mean…”

“No I don’t!”

“Your offer, please!”

“Hmm…” Putting her left hand to her sword and her right hand to her chin, she thought for a moment before answering, “I must admit that it’s seriously hard to come by a Rank 8 herb right now, so this is my offer. I would like to buy them for 5 gold a piece or 500 gold a stack. That makes 50k gold in total for 100 sets. Are you fine with that?”

I thought for a moment before nodding. “Yeah, sure. Do you have 50k gold or 50k RMB on you right now?’

Lin Yixin spread her arms and smiled at me. “Nope…”

“Fuck, what was the point of making an offer you can’t afford?”

Lin Yixin smiled. “Well, I don’t want to make you think that your herbs are worth less than they actually are! Right now I only have 30k RMB or so, and that is without considering my expenses. All in all, I only really have 10k RMB or so to spare. So, can I write you an IOU for now? I’ll pay you the full sum after I have earned enough money...”

I sucked in a deep breath and stared at her until she blushed. She chided me a little. “What are you looking at?”

“You’re aware that not even amateur swindlers are that blatant about their intentions, right? The most impressive part is how unfazed you look despite it…”

“Hehe. Look, I swear on my personality that I will pay you back in full in a week. But I need you to give me these 100 stacks of Leaf of Eternity now. Please?”

Lin Yixin was practically begging at this point. She even shared her bag contents with me and said, “See? I only have three thousand gold or so right now. I’m so poor that I might not even have the money to repair my equipment tomorrow. There was a quest that I had placed in the backburner because Qingqing hasn’t hit the level requirement yet. Once she levels up in a couple of days, we should be able to complete the quest, sell the loot and pay you back with the money we got…”

It looked like this was literally everything she got right now, and I supposed it was unrealistic to ask her to marry me with just 100 stacks of Leaf of Eternity. Oh well, 50k and a favor from the Fruit Knife Goddess herself wasn’t a bad deal, I suppose!

So, I brought up the trade window and dumped all 100 stacks of Leaf of Eternity on it. On Lin Yixin’s side, she tossed a copper and giggled a little. “Here’s the deposit!”

“...”

The trade failed because Lin Yixin didn’t have enough bag space. In the end, I had to follow her to the warehouse and perform 4 successive trades, 30 at a time!

After the transaction was finally over, I asked, “Well, I’m going for dinner. What about you, Yiyi?”

“Dinner?” Lin Yixin blinked at me before smiling. “I already ate dinner three hours ago. You’re playing a bit too much, don’t you think?”

“Eh, I guess. Well, I’m going!”

“Mn. Bye bye~~”

After I bade Lin Yixin goodbye, I summoned Gui Guzi and tossed the Level 75 Dark Gold–grade Bloodbreak Spear to him. The weapon was even stronger than the Golden Scale Bow, and I estimated that it was worth 20k RMB at least if I had turned it into the auction house. Teary-eyed, Gui Guzi promised solemnly, “Boss, I’ll treat you to a whole week of beef steaks after I earn enough cash…”

I shivered. OMG, he can’t think that a beef steak is fancy, can he? It looks like it's time to update my workshop’s common sense!

I noticed that I was 10 minutes late after sending Gui Guzi away, so I quickly logged out and took off my helmet.

I sucked in a deep breath. It was incredibly tiring to game for a prolonged period of time, and my stomach was rumbling like a drum. I put on a set of new clothes and walked out of the room. The three girls were already dressed up and waiting for me in the living room.

……

“What took you so long, Lu Chen? Were you trying to woo a girl or something?” Murong Mingyue questioned me.

I was dumbfounded. “Woo a girl in ten minutes? Are you sure you’re talking about girls, not kindergarten children?”

Beside Murong Mingyue, He Yi rose to her feet with a smile. “Alright, alright. Let’s go get dinner already, shall we? It’s been a while since I went to a buffet…”

“Mn!”

I nodded, but I couldn’t help but stare at He Yi a couple seconds longer than was polite. Once again, my beautiful boss managed to make me admire her from the bottom of my heart. She normally wore uniforms that gave her the air of an office lady, but tonight she was wearing a white jacket, a coffee-colored short skirt and a pair of brown leather boots. The pale legs beneath the fabric were attractive to say the least. Also, the temperature was cooler as of late, so her outfit made her look both beautiful and charming.

“Hehe, do I look good?” He Yi gathered her skirt on purpose as a smile crept up on her face.

What else could I say before a top-class beauty like her? I nodded and complimented her, “Mn. You’re beautiful no matter what you wear, sis…”

Murong Mingyue shot me a disdainful look and teased me. “I know that she’s your boss, but you don’t have to be that blatant with your compliments. Also, did you forget that Beiming Xue and I are here as well?”

I gave her a nod and complimented her, “You’re pretty, your whole family’s pretty…”

“...”

He Yi giggled at our antics. “Alright, let’s go!”

……

We entered Murong Mingyue’s A8 with me as the driver. On the streets, the girls were the flower, and I, the fresh leaves that complemented their beauty. At least I wasn’t so ugly that I might be compared to the dirt on the ground.

Beiming Xue sat on the front passenger seat, while He Yi and Murong Mingyue sat in the back. She stared at my face for a moment before bursting into a giggle. “Big bro, you look so serious when you’re driving. Your side view actually reminds me of a celebrity!”

He Yi asked interestedly, “Who?”

I chanted inside my head. “Wang Leehom! Wang Leehom! Wang Leehom!”

Beiming Xue: “He reminds me of Ng Man-tat!”

“POOO…”

The cola Murong Mingyue was drinking burst out of her mouth and onto my collar. He Yi immediately took out a tissue and wiped my clothes and my face as clean as she could. This time, it was Murong Mingyue’s turn to be dumbfounded by her reaction. “Eve, is it just me, or does it look like you’ve practiced this a thousand times in the past?”

He Yi was silent. Everyone fell silent as well.

……

Home Late Restaurant was the only somewhat high-class buffet restaurant in the area. Each meal was priced at 200 RMB per person, and it was one of the places that Du Thirteen and I swore to visit at least once in our lives.

We entered the restaurant and submitted our tickets. The moment I saw the endless variety of food in front of me, I charged toward the table and threw every kind of meat into my plate like my life depended on it. Golden crabs, deep sea fish, rabbits. Not one slice of green could be spotted on my plate at all.

I checked out He Yi’s plate when I sat down next to her. My first thought was that it was way too eco-friendly.

Murong Mingyue seemed dumbfounded by the mountain of meat I had placed on my plate. She said, “Lu Chen, are you sure you want to eat so much meat in one go? Don’t say I didn’t warn you if you’re full in just a couple of minutes! Remember, it costs 200 RMB just to get inside this place!”

Her worries were unfounded. “Relax!”

There was about a kilogram of meat on my plate, and I finished it all in no time. Then, I got to my feet and went hunting for new food. All three girls were shocked by my capacity.

While I was busy chowing down my food, my phone suddenly rang without warning. I gave it a look. It was an unknown number from Beijing.

“Hello, who’s this?”

“Hello, is this Falling Dust?”

A sweet, female voice came from the other side of the call.